European-Israel Relations

Fiamma Nirenstein

Fiamma Nirenstein is an Italian-Israeli journalist, author and politician. In 2008 she was elected to the Italian Parliament for Silvio Berlusconi’s The People of Freedom party and she served as Vice President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies for the length of the legislature, ending in March 2013. On May 26, 2013, she emigrated to Israel (made Aliyah). She lives now in Jerusalem with frequent visits to Italy. Ms. Nirenstein has joined the Jerusalem Center’s team of experts.

(0:22) When Abu Mazen gave his speech to the EU Assembly with his “anti-Semitic 14th century blood libel about Israelis poisoning Palestinian waters, nobody said a word; he even received a standing ovation.”

(1:25) The recent Quartet/EU document shows two attitudes: the first says “Palestinian terrorism and incitement are a big obstacle to peace. Afterwards is the same old point about settlements which is the European fixation. That’s a European mantra.”

(4:54) Abu Mazen thinks “the Europeans will always be on his side…. The Europeans always vote together like a superstition. [The EU representative for foreign affairs] Federica Mogherini repeats all the time ‘the unity, the unity, the unity of the EU.’ Why do they say that? Because the unity is not there. The only kind of union they can repeat is the unity against Israel.”

(0:11) We must never ignore that Europe has been an anti-Semitic continent, not only Germany and Italy.

(0:52) Europe never avoided fighting anti-Semitism after World War II. (1:22) Now, anti-Semitism is connected to “Israelphobia.”

(3:03) The EU was born to destroy borders, to overcome ethnic and religious identities. In the eyes of Europe, Israel is a country with borders, defends its borders, searching for roots, identity and has a strong religious drive …. Israel is always at war; “war” is a word that Europe cannot stand.